Environmental Destruction Brought Us COVID-19. What It Brings Next Could Be Far Worse

https://theunionjournal.com/environmental-destruction-brought-us-covid-19-what-it-brings-next-could-be-far-worse/

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“The growing proximity of humans and animals has increased the risk of disease transmission,” it says. “The number of outbreaks has increased in part because pathogens originally found in animals have spread to human populations.”

And but the Trump administration was caught unprepared, confused and unable to craft a coherent technique to sort out the menace. Indeed, even in mid-March, the president was nonetheless evaluating COVID-19 to the seasonal flu.

Beyond their hapless response, Trump and his Cabinet have additionally promoted a slew of insurance policies that actively exacerbate the potential for zoonotic spillover.

Since taking energy in 2017, the Trump administration has been on an anti-environment bonanza, rolling again wildlife and land protections whereas additionally working to chop funding for key worldwide conservation applications that assist forestall the type of actions that give rise to infectious illness emergence. In its proposed price range for fiscal yr 2021, for example, the administration seeks to chop greater than $300 million from important USAID and State Department applications that fight wildlife trafficking, preserve massive landscapes and in any other case promote biodiversity and wildlife safety overseas.

“USAID is one of the largest global donors for biodiversity conservation,” stated Kelly Keenan Aylward, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Washington, D.C., workplace.

She pointed, for example, to the company’s Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, a landscape-scale effort that focuses on combating wildlife trafficking and deforestation, two key drivers of biodiversity loss. USAID, Aylward stated, additionally funds important biodiversity applications within the Amazon and Southeast Asia, amongst different locations.